Good afternoon,

Linked below is the State Shipments for March 2018.

Here are a few key findings:

• Total U.S. beer shipment volume decreased by 2.1% in March, which had one less selling day compared to March 2017.
• On a selling-day-adjusted basis, domestic shipment volume was up 2.4%.
• The severe and pervasive inventory issues throughout the value chain which affected February’s shipments continued into March. The result is significantly less expansion in distributor inventory than is typical during the first quarter of the year and may impact second quarter depletions.
• Hard liquor price discounting in off-premise channels intensified in March, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  On average, liquor’s off-premise prices were down by 1.3% compared to last March – the largest monthly decrease in liquor prices in more than seven years.  Hard liquor prices have declined in each of the last 14 consecutive months.  By contrast, beer’s off-premise CPI has risen consistently over the last 27 months.
• Additionally, much of the East Coast experienced well-below average temperatures during March, which contributed to beer shipment declines in those states.

If you have any questions, please reach out.

Cheers,

Michael Uhrich
Chief Economist

P.S. CLICK HERE to register for the Beer Institute 2018 Annual Meeting, which will take place June 11 - 13 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.